It has recently become known to equip a sprayer vehicle and a nurse tank vehicle with a fluid coupler arrangement by which a fluid transfer conduit extending from the nurse tank can be manually or automatically connected to an intake fluid conduit leading to a sprayer tank. After making the connection, the operator opens a series of valves to establish a fluid path permitting fluid to flow from the nurse vehicle tank to the sprayer vehicle tank or tanks. Such a coupling arrangement is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No, 10/284,002, flied 30 Oct. 2002 and published under No, 200400484551, and now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,503,510, granted Mar. 17, 2004.
After the fluid tank or tanks of the sprayer vehicle have been refilled, the operator must close valves and disconnect the fluid coupler interconnecting the transfer and intake conduits in a manner which prevents or limits fluid chemicals from spilling onto the ground. One drawback of current large fittings and valves that are required for quickly transferring fluid chemicals from the nurse tank to the sprayer tank or tanks is that they permit significant spillage of the chemicals.
The problem to be solved then is to provide a coupler arrangement between the transfer and intake conduits of the nurse and sprayer vehicles which permits a relatively quick transfer of fluid chemicals while minimizing spillage of such chemicals.